The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) on the Manipulation of Games and Sports Betting, which will probably be extended until the end of the year, plans to hear player Lucas Paquetá, from the English team West Ham and the Brazilian National team, in the second half of the year.
The president of the collegiate, senator Jorge Kajuru (PSB-GO), presented the invitation requests to the athlete. Furthermore, the vice-president, senator Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE), also participated in the presentation.
Kajuru and Girão consider it essential for the CPI to hear Lucas Paquetá‘s testimony.
The case of Lucas Paquetá
News indicates that the English Football Association (The Football Association – FA) has reported the player for misconduct related to betting on four Premier League games.
In the requests, the parliamentarians mention that Paquetá would have forced yellow cards in four matches between November 2022 and August 2023.
“The facts had repercussions in Brazil, as a few dozen bettors living in the player’s area of origin (the island of Paquetá, in Rio de Janeiro) bet on the athlete’s yellow cards and, therefore, were entitled to the prize”, says Kajuru in justifying the invitation request.
Extension and new information
Senator Kajuru said that there are enough elements to extend the CPI’s work at least until December, due to the arrival of new documents.
This is because the commission received additional files from the Federal Revenue Service and the Federal Police that need to be analyzed. Furthermore, the president of the CPI highlighted that more than 300 football matches are suspected of manipulating results.
These facts justify the request for an extension of the commission, whose work should end on October 7th.
The CPI began operating on April 10, with an initial deadline of 180 days. The objective is to investigate allegations and suspicions of match-fixing in Brazilian football, involving players, managers and betting companies.
“We’re going until the Christmas break. This is our position because, in addition to what came to us from the Revenue and the Federal Police, all very serious, we have 109 matches that brought confirmation of manipulation of results through the company Esporte Radar, contracted by the CBF”, declared Kajuru in an interview on Senado TV.
We have another 200 matches, from 2020 to today, with suspected manipulation. From 109, we went up to 309 matches. I believe, then, that the request for extension of this CPI is justified”, he added.
Grooming and investigations
On June 11, the attorney general of the Public Ministry of Goiás, Cyro Terra Peres, and the prosecutor Fernando Martins Cesconetto, alleged at the CPI that players were lured into intentionally receiving yellow or red cards.
They spoke about Operation Maximum Penalty, which investigates a group accused of offering money to football players to receive punishments on the field.
Investigations into fraud in football matches in the state of Goiás began in November 2022. In other words, this occurred after a complaint from the president of Vila Nova Futebol Clube, Hugo Jorge Bravo, who is a military police officer.
The commission also heard from members of the CBF and the Superior Court of Sports Justice (STJD), as well as field and VAR referees (video). The president of Palmeiras, Leila Pereira, and the owner of SAF Botafogo, businessman John Textor, also participated in the statements.
